To: Janice Shell who wrote (1836 ) 6/7/1999 5:29:00 PM From: Q. Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 7056
The San Diego Union-Tribune December 31, 1990, Monday SECTION: BUSINESS; Ed. 1,2,3,4,5; Pg. A-15 LENGTH: 277 words HEADLINE: Complaints raised over mailings of state firm selling credit-card data SOURCE: AP BODY: The Better Business Bureau reports it has had complaints since summer over mailings from a California company offering what appears to be a low-interest credit card. Joanne Scrivo, a trade specialist with the BBB of Cleveland, told The Plain Dealer newspaper that her office had received numerous complaints about the Better Home Financial Group of Rancho Cucamonga. The complaints were mainly from people who sent in either $98 or $119, expecting to get a low-interest credit card but instead getting a list of banks to which they could apply for a credit card. Consumer magazines, newspapers and other outlets offer that information already, at little cost. Many of those who sent money to the California company said they were unable to get their money back. There was no answer yesterday at the Better Home Financial Group office in Rancho Cucamonga. Some of the group's mailings have said it could provide a credit card with no annual fee at a rate as low as 11.88 percent. But Scrivo said the bank offering the 11.88 percent rate did charge an annual fee. She cautioned that such mass mailings sometimes carry the logos of well-known credit cards to entice customers. "Even the literature carries Visa or Mastercard logos, making it appear they are endorsed by these companies when they are not," she said. Dorian Reed, a Better Home manager, told The Plain Dealer that the literature was not misleading and that potential customers were not told they would get a credit card. Reed said his company stopped using the Mastercard and Visa logos a year ago but that other firms were still using them, the newspaper reported today.